


the only place worth being

by alphabetotter



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Divergent, Denial, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 14:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7536967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alphabetotter/pseuds/alphabetotter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He couldn’t answer exactly why he did it.  </p><p>That was a lie if Bruce was being honest with himself; but Batman was a stubborn man of habit, and since he hadn’t been doing that for six years, he wasn’t going to start now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the only place worth being

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Saint Motel's Cold Cold Man, which is my favorite Superbat song.
> 
> Not Beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.

He couldn’t answer exactly why he did it.

That was a lie if Bruce was being honest with himself; but Batman was a stubborn man of habit, and since he hadn’t been doing that for six years, he wasn’t going to start now.

The Metropolis Cancer Society Auction was a relatively small event in the high society scene. Bored old money heirs and heiress threw around obscene amounts of money for everything from one of a kind diamond cuff-links, to a long lost Rothko series all in the name of sick children. It was just the kind of event Bruce liked to avoid. But in this particular lineup, there was an important magical artifact that, in the wrong hands, could cause some serious damage. So Batman did his part and brought his checkbook and young Timothy with him. Hell, with any luck, Clark Kent would be assigned to cover the event. It always amused Bruce to see Clark stumble his way through the throngs of the upper class.

The pre-event cocktails seemed to last longer than usual and Tim was dragged away from his side sooner than he would have liked. So Bruce was forced to make small talk with Camilla Griffin and Isabella Claymoore as the Cancer society tried to plug the Metropolis one-percent with alcohol in order to increase later revenue. The ladies were hanging off of him like Ivy’s plants on Gotham city buildings. But Bruce powered through as he always did, with a glass of champagne in his hand that he expertly avoided drinking. His mind raced through updates to the Batmobile and Wayne Enterprises stock data in order to keep his mind sane as Camilla talked about her vacation in Tuscany. But a small part of his brain noted that Clark was nowhere to be found among the press, and Bruce took a real swallow of the bubbly liquid in an attempt to suppress any unwanted emotional responses to that particular observation.

The Artifact went to Bruce Wayne, Prince of Gotham City, for a quarter of a million dollars. It was the second item up for auction, so Bruce and Tim had to sit through the rest of the 23 items. Bruce envied Tim who had a tablet out and seemed to be doing actual work (when he wasn’t socializing with his team). Bruce didn’t have that luxury. Instead, he had to pretend to be engrossed in the rest of the items and throw up bids here and there. By the time the last mystery item was being announced, Bruce had already designed a new steering column for the Bat-sub, and had seven different ideas for Alfred’s birthday present. But all of that left his brain when he tuned into the last mystery auction.

“An evening with the one, the only, Kal-El of Krypton!” The auctioneer presented, as the man himself floated down and landed gently on the stage. “Ladies and interested gentlemen, who wants a date with Superman? We will start the bidding at $50,000!”

Bids flew out of women’s mouths faster than Batman’s batarrangs. To anyone who didn’t know how to read the Kryptonian, he looked pleasantly surprised, but Bruce could see from his place near the back that Kal was moments away from bolting. Tim let out a low chuckle as he looked up from his tablet. “Kon makes that face whenever he narrowly escapes his fangirls.” Bruce focused back on the floor to see that Camilla currently had the high bid at $250,000. The Billionaire knew with absolute certainty that Camilla’s only goal was to get into the alien’s pants and then write a tell-all story about it afterwards.

And it was a horrible idea. An association with the Metropolis hero was a complication Bruce Wayne didn’t need. He still fielded questions about his company’s interactions with the Batman, he didn’t need questions about how big the Man of Steel’s cock was. But it was a lapse of judgment, one that he would deny later, but he raised his ballot and in a clear voice called, “One Million Dollars.”

The auction hall was enveloped with silence. Kal’s bright eyes locked onto Bruce’s outwardly calm face. The Billionaire focused his gaze a bit above the Kryptonian’s position and tried to focus his breathing and heart rate to something normal. Tim was frozen beside him and looked up from his tablet to stare at his adoptive father. He was the one who woke Bruce out of his meditation with a nudge in the leg when he won the bid undisputedly.

He rose gracefully and strutted up to the podium with all eyes in the room on him. The only sound to be heard was the confident clicks of his custom Italian soles and the soft grunt of resentment from Ms. Griffin. Bruce stopped in front of the podium to hand his ballot to the stunned auctioneer who quickly snapped out of his stupor. “That concludes the Auction tonight, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for your donations.”

Superman was still frozen on the stage when Bruce stepped in front of him with a hand on his hip, and a million-dollar smile on his face. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. El.” He said in his best Brucie voice.

It was like someone had pressed play. A brilliant smile lit up the alien’s face, and a small part inside Bruce was pleased to note that it was genuine. “Please, call me Kal.” He responded. The scrapes of chairs and soft music filled the hall. Kal’s smile turned teasing for a brief moment and quietly, he added, “That’s an awful lot of money for little old me.”

“You should be thanking me.” Bruce murmured. “Camilla is an animal, I just saved you from the worst date of your life.” Bruce allowed a bit of playfulness show on his face before the event historian called for a picture of The Man of Steel and the lucky gentleman from Gotham.

Superman choked on a soft snort before turning and placed his hand respectfully on Bruce’s waist. He had to play the role, Bruce told himself when he lowered his hand to the Kryptonian’s ass just in time for the flash of the camera to go off. And if it produced an incredibly satisfying blush on Superman’s face, that was neither here, nor there.

**Author's Note:**

> This is marked as completed, but i have some ideas for another chapter, so if y'all want to read more, that could happen... eventually...
> 
> my tumblr: http://diamond-absolutes.tumblr.com/


End file.
